~when your part of the plan is complete~

     The last two days of our Christmas vacation are at hand and by the day after tomorrow, it will be back to school for me and back to work for Mike.  The time flew by and that is exactly what we figured would happen.  Sadly we were reminded not once, but three times over the course of the last two weeks, of the fragility of this life of ours.  The Haven High School class of 1973 lost yet another classmate bringing us to a total of 5 in all, the Delta/Olathe community lost a dear and special teacher to cancer, and on New Year's Day Mike's step-mother, Maggie Renfro, died at the age of 84.  For these 3 women, their part of "the plan" for life was complete and it was time for them to return to their Heavenly home.  For those of us that remain, life goes on without even skipping a beat and when our own parts of the Master's plan have come to fruition, then we too shall leave.

     I never thought much about that when I was a kid growing up.  I was too busy with life to ever think about it being over.  When I was in high school, the idea of turning 30 seemed like "old age" to me.  At age 30 I realized that 50 was really old age and that I still had 20 more years to enjoy being young.  Now as I begin the year that I turn 60 in late October, I realize that any age we have been allowed to live to is wonderful and good.  To finally come to that realization, that we should be most thankful for any of the years we are blessed to receive, has been a wonderful awakening to me.  Some times I guess we just have to grow older to really appreciate the beautiful life that we have been given.

     Strange how things always work out, especially when you don't try to meddle with them.  My former classmate Sherri and I met when I came as a third grader to Haven Grade School way back in 1964.  After graduation we didn't run into one another hardly at all but I did see her in Hutch once in awhile and we always stopped to visit for a brief time.  Her death in mid-December makes five former members of our class who have now passed on, three girls and two boys.  Those of us that are left behind should really be thankful that we are still here and doing as well as we are.  Michelle, whose memorial service is this morning, was the woman whose classroom I took over for at the beginning of the school year in August of 2013.  Her health was such that she could not continue teaching any longer and she had retired in the summertime.  I always felt bad in a way that my good fortune of finding Olathe Elementary was due to someone else's misfortune.  I worried about that from time to time and confided with another colleague there of how badly I felt about it.  I'll never forget what that person said to me and after she said it, I never really worried again.

"Peggy don't ever worry about that.  God sent you here to us because you were needed and we are glad that you came."

Those two simple sentences, twenty three words in all, allowed me to ease into life there and to find a new home that I never knew existed before.  I am so very glad that I stayed.

     And then there was Maggie.  I met her for the first time when Mike and I went out to Twentynine Palms, California in April of last year.  She had continued to live there after Mike's dad had passed away and when we saw her she was doing very well.  I admired her spirit and youthfulness.  She scolded me, in a nice way of course, for putting so much junk into my coffee.  Maggie told me that I should definitely give up artificial sugar and creamer in my coffee, telling me it was not good for me.  She was an 84-year old woman who still practiced yoga, ate healthy foods and lived a pretty simple life all things considered.  Margaret Renfro was the kind of woman you might expect to live long enough to be 100 years old.  When we left there after a nice visit it was with plans to return in September to bring back the last of the things that had belonged to Mike's father.  Our car was already crammed full to the point of "critical mass" and with a smile on her face Maggie told us that just meant we needed to come back for another visit.  I actually figured that I would see her again in the fall but that was not meant to be.  The hug and kiss that she gave me when I said "good-bye" was the last one I would ever receive from her.  In the early morning hours of New Year's Day she passed away in her sleep.

     I had not planned to write this blog post today.  In fact, I hadn't planned to write at all this weekend but when I woke up this morning, the fact that 3 people I knew had passed away in the course of only two weeks gave me a lot of cause to stop and think.  January 3rd of 2015  is the 21,619th day of my life and rather than looking at those many days in a bad way, it would seem that the best thing to do would be reflect on them as the gift they truly are.  None of us are really all that old, only very much alive.  I like thinking about it in those terms.

     The gray hairs, the wrinkles about our face, the eyesight that dims with the passing of time, the knees that don't seem to work so well any longer......they are all gifts from the one who made us.  Today it is how I choose to so remember.

She was a sweet woman and I wish I would have had longer to know her but at least one time we were able to meet.  Maggie had more patience than me with origami (surprise, surprise) but some time in the future I will try it once again.  God intended that we should find one another and that part of the plan was completed last spring in Twentynine Palms, California.  We will meet again in Heaven, of that I am sure.